By Alessandra Cipriani-Detres, Senior Associate, Strategic Initiatives, and Bill DeBaun, Senior Director, Data and Strategic Initiatives
Reading time: Five minutes
At this year’s National College Attainment Network (NCAN) National Conference, over 60 college access leaders joined the pre-Conference session
“When AI is OK – Navigating the New Possibilities of AI-Assisted Advising” to learn more about how college access and success organizations are thoughtfully incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into student supports. These services range
from chatbots supporting Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion to large language models generating personalized advising content.
Weren’t able to attend the pre-con? We’ve got everything you missed laid out below.
Bottom Line and OneGoal Implement Chatbots for Hybrid Advising
Bottom Line and OneGoal are national college access and success nonprofits that directly serve students across the country. One way these organizations have expanded their
reach is by serving students through hybrid advising AI chatbots. (Both organizations were part of a Hybrid Advising Co-Op, where they
were joined by Let’s Get Ready, the College Advising Corps, and KIPP.)
Bottom Line’s chatbot called Bluprint, or “Blu” for short, provides students with weekly personalized check-ins, financial aid updates and deadlines, career-readiness resources, and academic encouragement
and study tips. OneGoal’s chatbot provides personalized messaging such as checking in on students’ first days of class and advisor-led campaigns like scheduling advising
calls. To prevent students from falling through the cracks, both chatbots allow human advisors to jump in when needed.
Interested in learning more about AI chatbots? One Goal and Bottom Line created a useful checklist you can follow for incorporating AI chatbots into your advising practices.
Basta Introduces Seekr to Help Improve Career Outcomes
Basta works to close the employment gap by running a free program for first-generation college students and recent graduates to land strong first jobs. They employ AI-enabled programs and manage partnerships
with leading employers that “have accelerated thousands of first-gen journeys on 300+ campuses.”
Their pre-con session highlighted how AI can strengthen career readiness for first-generation and other students while centering human connection. The workshop framed today’s job market as increasingly shaped by AI systems like résumé screeners and hiring
algorithms that are often invisible to students. Advisors face growing caseloads with limited time, creating a need for tools that scale support without losing personalization.
The session introduces Seekr, Basta’s AI-powered platform, which offers personalized career readiness reports, curated job boards, and tailored content to help students build agency and confidence.
Seekr insights can deepen advising conversations and empower students in navigating an AI-driven labor market. An AI Advising Framework underscores that AI should augment, not replace, the irreplaceable human relationships that drive
student success.
State Strategies for Incorporating AI into Postsecondary Advising
The Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) joined us to share how they are embracing AI at the state level. WSAC’s
OtterBot, an AI chatbot that provides students with information about the FAFSA or Washington state's application for state financial aid, serves over 200,000 students and families annually. THECB’s ADVi,
short for “advisor,” uses AI to provide on-demand support via text message to high school seniors and adults looking to attend or return to college. By incorporating these new AI tools powered by Mainstay, an education
technology company that leverages AI-enhanced advising to help students navigate their academic journeys, WSAC and THECB are transforming limited capacity for advising into advising that builds capacity at scale.
Attendees of the Pre-Conference were asked to complete a survey in advance of the session, leading to some interesting findings about their perceived strengths and weaknesses of AI:
Strengths
Pain Points
Improved efficiency and productivity
Lack of clear policies
Positive student engagement outcomes
Unclear institutional guidance
Development of curriculum and advising tools
Ethical and moral concerns
Communication and writing task support
Limited AI usage and awareness
Idea generation support
Authenticity and trust
Representatives from Bottom Line and the Fair Opportunity Project helped to navigate these findings and led attendees through a discussion of what questions remained important for them
in their exploration of AI. The findings above highlight both the promise and challenges of integrating AI into advising practices. While there are clear benefits such as capacity building, there are some risks and unknowns given the rapidly evolving
nature of AI. If you resonate with the sentiments shared by our attendees above, presenters of the Pre-Conference offered valuable advice for college access professionals, whether you are just now starting conversations around integrating AI or have
fully embraced it.
Be conservative with your approach and integration of AI. While there are many positives to incorporating AI into student supports, it isn’t perfect, and it’s important to avoid its potential pitfalls.
Ensure chatbots don’t provide misinformation. It’s impossible for AI to know everything, especially in the ever-changing environment that is college access. Some AI’s are trained to search every vein of the internet just so they can spit out
a response, even if the response is inaccurate. Chatbots should tell students, “I don’t know, but let me connect you with an advisor,” instead of providing an incorrect response.
Let human advisors tap in! Like we mentioned above, some questions and scenarios are beyond AI’s capabilities. Human advisors should be able to jump in and chat with students when they interact with AI advising services. Consider letting students
request a human advisor by texting #human, like One Goal’s chatbot.
As AI continues to evolve, college access professionals are faced with the balancing act of embracing AI’s benefits while steering clear of its faults. The experiences shared by presenters demonstrate that the most effective AI strategies combine technology
with human expertise, ensuring students receive reliable guidance while keeping advisors at the center of the process. By approaching AI thoughtfully and intentionally, we can harness its potential to serve more students and strengthen advising practices
for the future.
Looking to Get Involved?
Looking to join in on the conversation? Join NCAN’s AI Slack channel. If you’re interested in engaging more in this work, please email Bill DeBaun
(
debaunb@ncan.org) or Alessandra Cipriani-Detres (alessandra@ncan.org).
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